Ignition: Day 13

Word Count: 78,010

Summary of Events:

Keiller went to the mayor's house to learn what was going to happen next; he was told by the mayor that there were grounds in the town's laws to get Cyril's badge revoked, but that the mayor was going to deliberate on it for a few days. Returning to the office, Keiller found Cyril was looking for his picture and the two ended up getting into a brawl that ended because they were both exhausted. Keiller managed to recover sooner and get to Dr. Carrigan's for tending of his injuries, where he warned Rebekka to hide before Cyril arrived and recognised her, causing Rebekka to panic . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Immediately she rushed back into the kitchen, set the peach and knife she’d still been holding down, washed and dried her hands, and removed her apron before fleeing up the stairs as fast as she could.

Closing her bedroom door, Rebekka rushed over to her bed and sat down on it. She guessed that Deputy Gillies was the one who’d beaten and bloodied Marshal Bartlett, and she feared to think he might be coming over with intent to harm her too. Had Deputy Gillies found out she’d been moved?

She waited, feeling highly anxious, for some time before she heard feet coming up the stairs, which initially filled her with anxiety before she realised the tread was soft and calm. Deputy Gillies assuredly would stomp up the stairs if he were in a rage enough to do what he’d done to Marshal Bartlett.

Mrs. Carrigan’s soft knock sounded on the door before she opened it and stepped inside, smiling softly at Rebekka.

“Fleming doesn’t want you fretting, it isn’t good for your baby,” Mrs. Carrigan said, closing the door behind her.

Rebekka looked down at her abdomen and touched it gently. She still hadn’t felt anything within that proved to her she was pregnant, and even dreaded the day when she would feel what she could only consider presently the spawn of a monster, but there were certainly changes in her body that were consistent with what had happened when Karita was pregnant, meaning that she assuredly was in the same state.

“Marshal Bartlett says he got into a fight with Deputy Gillies,” Mrs. Carrigan said, sitting down on the bed beside her. “Deputy Gillies isn’t in much of a better state than Marshal Bartlett, and thus will probably need to be tended to by Fleming, but Marshal Bartlett was able to get here first.”

“Why did they fight?” Rebekka asked.

“I have a feeling it relates to what happened at the office last night,” Mrs. Carrigan replied. “Apparently a mob was there and searched the whole building, and they made that discovery mentioned by Fleming at breakfast. Not that they’ve really gotten along all that well, from the start even, if I’m not mistaken. They’ve certainly never seemed best friends as long as they’ve both been here. It’s likely they were only tolerating one another, and they’ve come to the point where they’re not even interested in doing that any longer.”

“Oh,” Rebekka said.

“And I’m guessing Marshal Bartlett doesn’t want Deputy Gillies to know he released you into our care, as that would create even more scandal than there already is in town,” Mrs. Carrigan said. “And we’ve hardly had a week since Marshal Bartlett got those rumours about you to abate. Not that I feel lying is appropriate.”

“Lying?” Rebekka asked.

“He is lying by not admitting that you were down there,” Mrs. Carrigan said. “It really is a challenging position, though, because if he told the truth, then people would want to get you out of town for sure, if not even us, as well as Marshal Bartlett.”